Michael Posner

Michael Posner News

Masked gunmen attacked the car of Egypt’s central bank governor this morning, shooting dead an armed police guard in an incident highlighting security problems gripping the country two years after the 2011 uprising.

Egypt’s bond rating was cut for the fifth time in two years by Moody’s Investors Service, pushing government debt six levels below investment grade on concern over International Monetary Fund loans and political unrest.

The U.S. State Department is set to announce $28 million in grants to help Internet activists, particularly in countries where the governments restrict e-mail and social networks such as those offered by Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc. and Google Inc .

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lauded signs of political opening in Myanmar, highlighted the first free elections in Egypt and deplored worsening abuses in Syria in presenting the State Department’s 2011 review of human rights conditions around the world.

The U.S. State Department plans to spend $19 million to help dissidents bypass Iranian and Chinese Internet censorship, including distribution of new technology dubbed “slingshot” that circumvents firewalls in those countries.

The U.S. defended its human-rights record at home and abroad, saying the Obama administration has shown its commitment to closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center and ending discrimination, though more work must be done.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today released a report on the state of religious freedom around the world, highlighting Iraq as among the worst offenders in failing to punish violence against non-Muslim minorities.

Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese dissident whose flight to the U.S. in April roiled U.S.-China relations, said iPhone-maker Apple Inc. should take a more outspoken role criticizing China for its one-child policy.

Mohammed Ibrahim Yacoub had a haircut, took a shower and left home with a friend as police clashed with Shiite Muslim protesters near his home in Sitra, Bahrain on Jan. 25. That was the last time his family saw their 18-year-old son alive.